Thursday, October 7, 2010

Hi - Lo Motel Cafe - Weed, CA

If you like stately mountains and coniferous forest, Northern California is definitely the place for you. This expansive area is home to countless creeks and swimming holes, with broad vistas and shady groves to boot.

Another highlight of the region serves up good food and comfortable lodging to the weary auto-tourist. The sign for this place beckons both night and day, calling the hungry and tired to stop and stay awhile. This time, let's stop in at the Hi - Lo!

Nestled on the Old 99 in the still-small-town of Weed, we find the Hi - Lo Motel Cafe back in the days of Ike:


The fate of many 40's - 50's motels isn't always as pretty as a postcard from the past. Many end up surrounded by chain-link fence, with their pools drained and defaced by local wise-acres.

Having said that, I’m quite pleased to report that the Hi - Lo lives on, even though Mt. Shasta was 'Obscured By Clouds' during this recent visit:



The grounds were well kept and the restaurant was bustling. And guess what? The M-O-T-E-L and C-A-F-E letters in the classic sign still light up in sequence, although it's hard to tell on such a bright sunny day:



Maybe next time we'll try one of their Refreshing Root Beer Floats.


Thanks for visiting. See you next time...

6 comments:

Heidi Ann said...

I am delighted to see a new post from you!
I absolutely LOVE the fact that, not only does this motel still exist, but it has been well-kept and it looks fantastic - even better now than in the vintage post card!
Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

white-honky-burnout said...

The Hi-Lo scene was obscured by clouds in Weed huh... sounds very strange beautiful.
That $7.99 NY steak & eggs breakfast sounds like it would pacify a weary traveler with the munchies though. Just curious, was Achilles Last Stand on your play list by any chance?

Good post and pics CDub!

JG said...

Wow, thank you Walterworld, we frequent the same places.

This was a Sunday AM breakfast favorite when we lived nearby. The motel is owned by the original family, they also have numerous other freeway services business in the area.

The hi-lo coffee cups are highly prized.

Thanks for this great post and for your blog. I enjoy it very much indeed.

JG

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

As others have said, that's great to see one of these old motels still going strong.
And they get bonus points in my book for

1. Not modernizing it beyond recognition
2. Keeping and maintaining the original sign.

Synthetrix said...

Nice one! Thankfully, change usually comes slowly in little towns like this and keeps some of these great old signs and buildings around. The place looks cared for.

leslie said...

A friend of mine recommend this motel to us to for a 2 night stay when I and my family will visit on California this summer vacation. I hope we feel comfortable during our stay there.
Motels in Santa Ana